This invention relates to an improved smoking tobacco product and the method of making the same, and more particularly to an improved smoking tobacco product having incorporated therein aroma and flavor-producing additives which improve the smoking characteristics thereof.
There has been continuing interest in using organic material which can function as flavoring agents for modifying or improving the flavor and aroma of tobaccos, foodstuffs, beverages and other such consumer products.
It has been established that ketones are natural components of tobacco smoke, and that they most probably are contributors to tobacco smoke flavor. Further, it has been disclosed in the patent literature that addition of ketones to tobacco results in an improvement in the flavor of smoking compositions as perceived by test panels.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,485 discloses the addition of p-methylacetophenone to tobacco and food stuffs as a means of providing flavor or flavor enhancement. Other patents which disclose the use of aromatic ketones include U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,760 for 3,5-dialkyl-2-hydroxyacetophenone and U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,706 for 5-methyl-2-acetylfuran.
Aliphatic ketones have also been found to be useful tobacco additives. U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,485 describes the use of geranylacetone and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one as tobacco additives, whereas U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,036 discloses 1-(3,3-dimethylcyclohexyl)-4-methylpentanone as a tobacco additive. Canadian No. 895,916 describes the synthesis of 1-acetyl-3-isopropylcyclopentane and its use to enhance the flavor of tobacco smoke.
Ketoacid esters of menthol were disclosed as tobacco flavorants by Moeller et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,644,613. Willis discloses diethyl .alpha.,.beta.-diacetylsuccinate as a flavorant for tobacco, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,659. Esters of ketoalcohols as tobacco flavors were disclosed by Kilburn et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,403,686.
Sucrose 2,2,4-trimethyl-3-oxovalerate is a beta-ketocarboxylic ester which has been described by Wright in U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,477 and proposed as an extender for cellulose esters in film making and the like.
The present invention provides for the incorporation in tobacco or other smoking material of a compound which will impart flavors to the smoke thereof, which compound is not lost during manufacturing and storage and which compound is readily released when the tobacco is smoked.
It is an objective of this invention to permit the incorporation of a ketone into a tobacco product in a form which will not be lost or altered during subsequent manufacturing steps or during storage of the tobacco product.
It is a further objective of this invention to permit the incorporation of a material in tobacco, which material will release a ketone into the tobacco smoke which results when the tobacco containing said material is smoked.
One of the more specific objects of the present invention is to incorporate ketones in a tobacco product in such a manner that they will not be released prior to the time that the tobacco product is smoked but will be readily and efficiently released as the tobacco product is smoked.